In this paper of mine, I combined different theories of philosophers which I think I can relate to the rise of Computer Mediated Communications (CMCs). These theories are Levinas’ “Facing the Face”, Harraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto” and Heidegger’s “Mitsein.” As we can see nowadays, almost all of us be it from a rich, poor or from the middle class have our own “personal/identity account” in any of the CMCs most especially in the Facebook. Our purpose is of course to socialize with other people around the world, our friends, our families, and our special someone and some, for business purposes. Our technology in the present is really advanced and continues to advance. We are living in a highly technologized and digitalized world. As what I have learned from Karl Popper’s “Falsification”, technology must advance (improve). We cannot stop the improvements happening in Science and Technology because it is their very nature. This is related to the cycle of the “geist” (thesis and anti-thesis.) Without this cycle, there is no history. Like History, there is a movement in technology. And so, if you create new gadgets now, later it will advance and evolve to a gadget which has more features and functions, making it more attractive and more useful and capable of doing different tasks. That is why life becomes simpler nowadays because of what the technology offers us. Technology makes life easier and convenient. It’s really easy now to communicate with our loved ones, family and friends through the use of cellphone, telephone, e-mail, fax and CMCs. Technologies can help us in our way of life but most of the time nowadays, if we cannot use it properly and with discipline, we end up in being controlled by it.

The first philosopher which I can relate to the rise CMCs especially the Facebook is Heidegger. I would like to relate it in his “Mitsein.” “Mitsein” is “being-with.” This kind of theory is first and foremost relational. “To be with” needs an Other. In being with the Other, relationship starts. We cannot achieve “Mitsein” without the Other. I just put in my title “Being-with-the-machine” because what I would like to emphasize first is, with the help of technology (machines, gadgets), we can be with the Other. What I really mean is that, we can be with the Other using the machines, gadgets and CMCs (half true.) This being with the Other is not personal but impersonal. We are with the Other only in the virtual world. What I am trying to say is that, we use technology to be with the Other even though it is only impersonal. Yes we become less human but here we can see that we want to continue the relationship with the Other even though we are away from each other. We can see that our “care” for the Other is still there because even though we are geographically away, there is inside us that we want to continue and secure the relationship. It is all because we are relational in nature. E-mails and cellphones were created so that relationships are monitored and care can be expressed to the Other even though we are both far from one another. Here we can see the positive side of CMCs in us in relation to our being relational beings. The problem here is that, the real body of the Other is not present. It is really different if we communicate to the Other facing each other. Presence of the body has a different flavor than virtual presence only in communication.

The second philosopher which I can relate to the rise CMCs especially the Facebook is Harraway. Harraway’s philosophy is about “Biopolitics” and “Cyborg Manifesto” but I will focus more on “Cyborg Manifesto.” “Cyborg Manifesto” is the heralding of the coming of the “cyborgs.” Cyborgs are half-human half-machine. Before, it was just a manifestation of something not real but these days, we can say that cyborgs already exist. Our Facebook accounts are one of the best examples of cyborgs. They are cyborgs because we humans are operating our account (half-human) and we have these accounts through the help of technology (half-machine.)  Our accounts are our identity in the virtual world. We relate to others in virtual worlds using our account/s. In looking at Harraway’s philosophy, it is as if we become less human if we use technology. Yes she has a point. Technology alone is not human. It is just a tool or machines which makes our life easier. If we are over exposed with it, we become less relational. Look at the Facebook addict people, sometimes they spend more than half of the day in checking their accounts and their messages. They entertain their selves facing the computer almost half of the day. Worst if, they would spend more than sixteen hours in facing the computer and being on Facebook.. It’s not good anymore because it is addiction. We can use Facebook with good purposes but too much of something is not good for us. First, it is bad for our health because of the radiation we can get in facing the computer. Second, we become less relational because we choose to spend our day facing the machine (computer, and other gadgets) rather than humans. Third, we go out of the real world and we enter to the virtual world where in true relationship does not exist. That is why, we really need Social Philosophy because of the problems about depersonalization, virtual presence and individual ethos.

Another famous philosopher which I can relate to the rise of CMCs especially the Facebook is Levinas. Levinas’ theory is about the “face.” In his theory, the “face” is a structure of relationship which happens at the time of “facing.” This “face” of the Other tells us “be for me.” Our “face” tells the Other too “be for me.” Our choices are to be for him or not for him. If we are for him, we become social and relational. If we are not for him, we deny our very self as relational beings for it is human’s nature to be in relation with others. And so, we can say that being relational means we are for the Other and for the Other to be relational, the Other must be for us. If we accept that we are for the Other, responsibility comes next. Being responsible of the Other means being accountable of him/her. We are accountable of the Other whatever happens to him/her. Because we cannot “define” Other’s eidos as what Husserl’s reduction would suggest, we cannot “define” the limits of our responsibility. With this, we can say that we are infinitely responsible of the Other.  That is why if we see the Other in need, we must help him/her. He/she is begging “be for me.” And so, we must help the face we are facing because he/she needs help. If we see our brothers in the community doing bad/evil things, we have the responsibility to correct him/her. Someday if we will become priests, we are expected to react against evil if we see it. In seeing evil, we must not keep quiet. We must stop it.  In doing this, we make the Other see that we are concerned and have care to him/her. In relation to Facebook, can we say that we “face” the “face” of the Other through the Facebook? Does the Other still have a “face” in the virtual world? Is there such a thing as “Infinite Responsibility” in the virtual world? For me, to be in the virtual world makes us cyborgs (half-human, half-machine.) Even though we become half-human, half-machines in the virtual world, I can say that we still have the “face” and the Other has a “face” to face us. We can say that we still have a face in the virtual world because behind these cyborgs are the part of us as being relational. We humans are relational beings and we are the ones who are controlling our account/s Most of us created Facebook account for the purpose of being related to Other people which are really related in our personal life. And so, there is still a relationship happening (half true- because real relationships happens not in the virtual world.) Because there is still “face” in the virtual world, there must still be “Infinite Responsibility” to the Other. Because the “face” we face in the virtual world are cyborgs, we have the “Infinite Responsibility” to them. For example, if we see other cyborgs doing bad things in the virtual world specifically posting bad comments on others, we have the responsibility to correct him/her about his/her wrong doings. As cyborgs in the virtual world, it is our responsibility to correct other cyborgs doing bad in the virtual world. Behind these cyborgs are humans that are in nature relational.

As a conclusion, “being-with-the-machine” or specifically, to be with the computer to log on to Facebook with the purpose of being updated and to communicate and connect with our friends, family and loved ones (“facing the cyborgs”) comes the “infinite responsibility” with the other cyborgs in virtual world. Here we can see that there is still a structure of relationship in the virtual world (half true.) As cyborgs, the key for us not to be truly machines is “moderation.” In our engagement with cyborgs, machines and CMCs, we should be the ones to control them. We must never allow them to control us. Making technology controlling us is not the fault of technology but the fault of the human using it. If technology controls us, not us controlling technology, we become pure machines for we live a life of individual ethos living in the virtual world which is depersonal. 

Man was truly blessed, because God gave him sufficient knowledge so that he can rule all things all over the earth. God gave him knowledge so that he can make wise decisions, he can be a good steward of all creations, and he can create things that can preserve his life and make it more meaningful. Thus man was able to explore things around him and have found things which will be meaningful to him.

Technology plays a great role in our world nowadays. Why? It is because technology brought us to another phase of life wherein everything goes faster, causes too much convenience on our part, and giving us less work but more time for enjoyment. The number one thing that our technology has developed very well is our source of communication. Why is this so? Communication is easily overlooked, but the ability to communicate effectively is necessary to carry out the thoughts and visions of an organization to the people. The importance of speech and words whether through a paper or a voice is a communication medium to convey directions and provide synchronization. Without communication, there is no way to express thoughts, ideas and feelings. That’s why technology provided us the tools that are powerful in terms of communication like: phone, fax, email, letter, website, instant message softwares, social networking websites, and the most popular, Facebook.

Yes, we can say that communication is very important in every aspect of our life, because it helps us to link with the wider world of information and in the world. It also links us to other people all around the world and enables us to have a good relationship with them. But is there really a true relationship that is happening in the world of the facebook? Facebook is a world which is composed also of different worlds (users), but it only exists in the world of computer. It is totally different from the real world. Why? It is because in the world of facebook we can fake almost everything. We can make our ideal world for our own sake and we can make our new ego while hiding the true one. In facebook we are free to add any sort of information about ourselves, whether it is true or not, because we are confident that nobody will correct us, since they don’t know our true identity. And if this is the case, if this is how we are engaging from one another, what kind of relationship can we develop out of this idea of the reality that is usually happening in the facebook? Can we develop a true “human relationship” through this, since relationship only happens when there is actual presence and truthfulness in one another?

Max Scheler, on his theory of Person and Community describes that “Person” is universal. Therefore, by the term itself it is grounded to others or the community. For Scheler, the nature of person is always “communal” and he can never separate his self from the community because the community is already part of its essence. If we are going to apply the theory of Scheler from the world of facebook, we can say that the characters or the users from the facebook are indeed “Pesons” also, because they communicate and engaging from one another. The facebook serves as their ground of encounter, wherein they communicate from one another in a manner that they are just communicating in the real world. But according to Levinas, relationship has its own framework or structure that can only happen at the time of contact (facing the Other); facing the “totality” of the Other, which means facing the “being” of the Others (the body, manner, character, etc.). So it is not only facing the body that appears on the monitor of the computer. “Facing” is more important than in the facebook communication, because Facing is a responsibility of every person and it is through Facing that we can know the human existence of the Other. If we answer to this call (Facing), the moral person we become, but if we deny it the immoral person we become. Our identity from the others would sometimes depend on the memory that we have shared to them. The more memories that we shared, the deeper our relationship goes. But if there’s a problem in our memory, it can affect our identity, and having problems with our identity could also affect the relationships that we have. That’s why facebook as part only of computer world, it can’t give us a “settled relationship” because we are free to change our identity in anytime that we want. And since it only exists in the world of computer and not in the real world, there is a great tendency that it can be deleted, whether accidentally or not, because the world of facebook is only temporary and it has its own expiration. Therefore when your account does not functioning already, everything that you have in your account will be useless and your identity and all the relationships that you have will also vanish, because your identity depends on what you have put in your account. If your account is not functioning, you will not be capable of engaging with the others. Your memory will be lost and you’ll become nothing. Unlike in the real world, we can say that our relationship can be stable and there is no tendency for it to be erased, because our relationship in the real world is grounded in reality and it is not simply a computer program. Therefore it goes along with our existence in this world. As long as we are existing we are capable of having relationship and there is the tendency that our memory will last even until our end.

Facebook is a social networking which provides us a path to communicate to other people and to make friends with them. But an acquainted relationship, which we can only have in the real world, is much better. Why? Simply because it is so nice to make friends with other people facing their true beings, when there is a body contact. Compared to seeing only or communicating with them in the wide screen. For it is in the real world that we can attain a true and settled kind of relationship, which is moral and making us true human beings.

We are in a fast changing world. We are living in a highly modernized way of life. Nowadays, there are lots of highly advanced technologies being invented brought about by modern man. High technology is the trend of today’s generation. Probably, these fast and continued developments in technology would really invade and control human lives. This advancement of technology will strongly and powerfully influenced and changed the way we live. Indeed, advancement has made our life easier and more convenient. However, this may also destroy and shape our lives.

Our means of communication or interaction to one another is one of the most very obvious aspects of our life that transformed a lot. Many new inventions are being produced to make communication process more convenient and faster like telephone and mobile phone. And the greatest discovery that shifts and creates a new breed of social relationship is the internet wherein various social networking websites are created and offered like MySpace, Friendster, Twitter, Blogs, and Youtube. And the most popular social website used by millions of people around the world is the Facebook. By the rise of social networks especially of the Facebook, the social lives of modern individuals shift. There is already acquired new breed and dimension of human relationship. Many are engage and addicted to Facebook because it offers an easiest and fastest way to communicate and interact with others especially with your families, friends and special someone. Because of Facebook, long lost friends find each other again, families who are away from each other get updates every now and then and new friendship and relationships blossom too. The success of social networks particularly of Facebook lies in the simplicity and convenience it provides for the users.

On the other hand, if we examine and observe the true impact of Facebook in the society, it is destroying social relationships. Facebook addiction turns us not so social. It loses contacts with others and fails to keep friendships alive. Words alone cannot describe us clearly and visibly. It does not help us make more genuine close friends, because it changes the nature of friendship. Instead of asking your friend or someone out for coffee, it is really possible that it might turn in Facebook instead. We see many people with hundreds or even thousands of friends in Facebook, but how well and deep do those persons know each other. Posting pictures and information about you and chatting are not enough to know well each other and to develop a stronger social relationship. I believe, this can end good social relationship and the skill of forming friendship since our focus is on how well our page looks rather than how much we know and keep with friends. We have to remember that it is very easy to be deceptive on the Facebook,

Face to face contact is the best way for us to develop and build stronger social relationships. Because the more we interact and communicate face to face to one another, the more the intimate, healthier and closer our bond with each other. Although, Facebook helps us collect hundreds or even thousands of acquaintances, face to face contact is always necessary to form truly close social relationships. Face to face contact is more meaningful and truthful, because there is an eye contact. You can see and feel their true facial expressions, emotions, gestures, postures and the tone of their voice. In a face to face contact, you can really share and say what you really want to express. You can really listen and comforts others if they are in despair. You can really make decisions and solve problems. You can really build a true community.

Social relationship through Facebook is closely related and applicable to Levinas’ Theory on “The Face” and “The Other”.  This theory tells us about the relationship between the “Face” and the “Other”, wherein the “Other” refers to the other person, someone else, whoever it is, that each of us encounters directly or experiences, while the “Face” refers to human face, a living presence; it is expression and it speaks to me and thereby invites me to a relation, and it is always begging “be for me”. The “Face” is the structure of relationship which may only happen at the times of contact to the “Other”. It means the totality of the being of the “Other”, The “Face”, which refers to the Other’s whole body, thoughts, actions, manners, character, values, spirituality and many more. The “Face” is making us social. It allows us to connect to one another. We exist and related to everyone. Sociality is a kind of essential facing. It simply shows that human existence is facing the face of the “Other”. If you don’t do that, you do not exist, you are not human. We are relational or social beings, so we have to be with the others always. The ‘Face’ is always “be for you” and “be for me”.

A Facebook is not the best way for us to be with the “Others” or facing the face of the “Others”. The “Face” which is a structure of relationship could not be possible to happen if we are interacting and facing through this social network, for the real essence and fundamental nature of relating is a face to face contact with the “Others”. In order for us to know well the Others’ true personality, emotions, expressions, values, manners and spirituality, we have to relate and interact with them face to face. On the other hand, we cannot surely know and get in touch with the “Others” because we are not facing and experiencing the “Others” directly and personally instead we are facing a digitalized and computerized “Other”. We are all human beings and as relational beings, we have to relate with real and true human beings also and not with a kind of machine or digitalized individuals.

Social relationship through Facebook can also be applied to Max Scheler’s theory on Person and Community. It tells us about a person as communal in nature. He is a relational and social being. He can never separate himself in the community, because the community is part of his essence and existence. And at the same time, part of community’s essence is from the person. They are correlation. However, in my own understanding and analysis, relating this to Facebook as a social network, the Facebook makes the person go away, live alone and go against with the community. Because, the person chooses to interact and communicate with others through a digitalized computer rather than to mingle and join on a direct or face to face contact with them. By this, he will never know and find his real existence and being. I have also realized that Facebook does not create and build a community. Eventhough Facebook held people  together by pre-established interpersonal relationships, still it does not build a community because the engagement tends to be immediate, light and fleeting. It is impossible for them to make community because they are not living together. A true meaning of a true community is that, it is much longer term and involves fostering and nurturing a group of people who share a common interest. People are relating with one another directly and face to face interaction. And of course the persons living in a community are true human beings and not visualized persons. Persons in a community are directly talking, sharing, enjoying, laughing and helping with one another. It does not save the community but destroys it for it does not enhance and supplement real social relationship. It is a dangerous addiction that compels people to withdraw from reality and prevents them from developing social skills. Thus, Facebook is not good for building a stronger and healthier human social relationship.

A paper on Heidegger’s “mitsein” and Levinas’ “the face.”

The world nowadays is very open to changes that the technology offers. The evolution of world’s adaptation to the present time is rapid that in every moment or even every second there are things created and improved. Language, communication, industries, agriculture, and transportation are the elements in the world that affect the lives of the people. Living in the world where all aspects of life are rapidly dynamic and unending changes can create unfocused, restless, and being unaware of the things that are important in social aspects of life.

Communication is one of the elements of the world that was highly developed and affected by the great evolution of technology. It is the communication that can make people be with each other and face each other’s body. Being humans, we are given by God the responsibility to create relationships in physical and communicative ways. There are many kinds of communication and it is a process, communication may be verbal, written or through signs, emotions can give realistic and relational meanings to the people who are communicating. Facebook is one of the computer mediated communications, where through the use of a computer connected through the internet even how far around the earth a person is he/she can connect to the other on the other side. The connection of people using the face book is in the internet that the internet passes the message of the person typing on the commuter and being read by the recipient in return the recipient types his/her feedback of message to the giver of the message. Facebook has also an application where pictures and videos can be posted and uploaded in the internet that the people connected through it can see each other picture. Thus face book have bad effects, especially in relationships, in the real presence of the people in communication, and physically connectedness of people with each other.

Heidegger’s philosophy “Mitsein,” or “being with” focused in the being together of people. “Mitsein” is a verb, an act that should be acted, the being with each other of a person to another person.  The subject must act considering the presence others. It is a task of a person to be with others for his/her life and the lives of others are revolving on one world. Relationship develops in the “mitsein” physical and active presence is very important in “mitsein”. A person cannot totally separate itself to others except though death. In communication in the philosophy of Heidegger “mitsein” or being with, physical and person to person relationship is every important. Thus facebook as a CMC does not promote a physical and relational relation to people communicating with each other. Facebook only promotes a person to computer engagement. Even though that a person connects to the other side of the world with another person, physical presence of each other is missing. Facebook does not promote intimate and emotional relationships, facebook when used as medium of communication, it does not portray the real feelings and emotions of the persons communicating with each other. How can person act as being with if the other that should be present is not directly present for only the internet and the computer are the medium of connection in communication.

Levinas, in his philosophy “the face” would like to show the importance of the other as totally other. This totally other means that the “other” is an “alien” a separate being from me but we are the same as human beings. The body of the other is solely existing, yet we exist for each other. “The face” is the one that is a very important variable in the communication process in creating relationship. “The face” does not only mean that in communion, the face to face experience is needed, but in the “face” of Levinas  face means that the whole personality of a person is being counted as person to person communication. In the “face” there is also what Levinas called infinite responsibility. Infinite responsibility of a person means that in the time a person meets the other as “the face” he has the responsibility to answer the call to be with that person. The least as person could give in the “face” for Levinas is the offering of his/hers presence to the “face” of the other. Facing the other as “the face,” the responsibility is always calling for presence as if begging ‘be for me” or helping others in their problems. In answering the others “face” a person who engages his/her self to offer or answering even only in mere presence, the person who answered is moral and had done a moral act. The alien or the totally other the others are, the great responsibility the “face” is asking, and infinite responsibility follows, the more alien others are the more responsibility we have to answer the “face” and to know more others. Being human we have the infinite responsibility to others in creating relationships and to relate to each other, and if we simply do not exercise our being humans. In facebook it does not give space to a communicative relationship as “face” to “face” relationship. How can a person could practise his/her infinite relationship to the “face” if they do not communicate even face to face.

Thus face book is not at all a good source of communication in the social relational and responsible relationship. It does not promote “face” to “face” communication and does not experiencing others physical presence. How can we be a community in communication without “being with” and the “face” of the other? We must communicate to other human through a human to human relationship as an experience of our being human in humanity.

“To love material and perishable things is to be materialized and doomed to perish. But to love eternal is to become eternal; to love God is to become God.”

True happiness, they say, is much more than a smile on your face. It's a way of looking at the world. Let's say you lock yourself out of the house. If you're happy, experts explain, you won't scold yourself, kick the door, and fret that your day is ruined. Instead, you'll spring into action. You'll make a mental list of neighbors or friends who have a spare key or you'll call a locksmith. As you wait for help to arrive, you'll use the newfound free time to read the paper on your doorstep or enjoy a cup of tea at the cafe down the street. People who are happier in their daily lives have healthier levels of key body chemicals than those who muster few positive feelings, a new study suggests. This means happier people may have healthier hearts and cardiovascular systems, possibly cutting their risk of diseases like diabetes.

Human as we are, we have our own view of happiness. We perceive happiness in different manners. And usually, our happiness lies in two things, which are: Material and Spiritual. That’s why sometimes we are being misled of our decisions if where we can truly find our true happiness in life, because there is an inner struggle within us; the battle of body and soul. Our body would usually desire for what is material, because our body (senses) is considered as the window of the real world. But in the spiritual aspect, we can only find our true happiness if we are in the presence of the Divine.

Human as we are, we can’t deny that in our nature, we can easily get in touch with the material things around us such as money, gadgets, and other earthly things, because they are more physical and easy to perceive than that of the things in spirituality. That’s why in our present time, we easily embraced the reign of modernization in our society, because it brought us to a new phase of lifestyle by giving us convenience in life. In fact, we can honestly say that modernization makes our life easier and comfortable. Our technologies today discovered so many things that enable us to explore the world as far as we could. Technology develops many kinds of gadgets that are very powerful and accessible in terms of communication and socialization that allows us to have a connection with the whole world. It is also because of our technology that we have developed different kinds of entertainment that somehow gives us a good source of relaxation, which makes us feel enjoying and happy. But if we come to think about it more closely, we will realize that material things give us only a temporary enjoyment or happiness. They can’t satisfy our desires until the end, because our desires are also changing when there is also a change that is happening in our environment. That’s why we keep on searching for more, because material things are not infinite and they can only satisfy our needs on a particular moment. But it is different when we seek and possess the happiness that we can find in our spirituality. That’s why St. Augustine said, “My heart is restless until it rests in Thee.” Possessing God leads us to find what true happiness is. It is not only because God favors those who seek Him, but because seeking God changes our lives. Seeking the presence of God creates a pivotal turn in our journey in our life. To live with God would also mean to live His statutes, and it is in this way that we can discover that living a good Christian life helps us to have a balance kind of life. And to have a well ordered type of life is a life that every people are looking for.

Material things can’t give us true happiness, because they only meet our bodily needs. In seeking for happiness we must consider the things that could benefit both our body and soul, because there is the tendency that there are things that our body needs but our soul doesn’t, and usually the things that our soul possesses would always benefit not only itself but also the body. So, we should seek God in all things that we are doing, because it is only him that can give us true happiness and fullness of life.

“The knowledge of truth may be essential to happiness, but for Augustine truth is pursued only because truth alone can make man happy.”


In this world of highly developed technology, change is rapid and restlessness does not stop. Confusions, unawareness, unfocused, and lies are some of the bad effects of our present life. The things that are existing in this world that offers easy and very convenient life can make us lazy and passive. Reality became blurred that truth was surrounded by lies hiding in the presence of seemingly true meanings. Power, money, name, title, became the objects that were being abused. The powers of worldly pleasures easily attract the attention and focus of the people. Life in this kind of world is very dangerous, happiness is very easy to experience and it may be the happiness of being powerful, wealthy, popularity and pretentions. Truth as the very reason of being happy is hard to distinguish. Knowledge is a gift that was given for us to search the meaning of being happy. For all the deceptions of the worldly pleasures of this world, men live in short and shallow happiness.

Truth is the real essence of happiness. Truth must be the source of all that is. We all strive for the search of truth where in truth lies our happiness. The inquiry of happiness arises, now that in this life of busy and hectic schedules, we are being led by the materialistic dimension of the world into selfish and egoistic kind of happiness. Money can bring us happiness, many people are striving to become wealthy and richer, but is this the real meaning of happiness? is it true that if we are rich we can be happy? Can all the things what we want can make us happy? If we see others that are poor and cannot have what they need, are we happy to be wealthy? Does God want us to be? Who is God in our lives being swallowed by the silver and gold the world blinded us? Power, does it help us to become a leader as “to serve and not to be served”? Or are we using our title or our influences to become someone and be a person who can manipulate other lives and control them for our sake? In this time of our lives, all the learning’s and knowledge that we’ve acquired, do we use them for the betterment of our country, society, community, neighbour, family, for ourselves? Or we just use our knowledge to put down others? Are we happy for the knowledge we hold?


Do we really feel that we are happy because others are happy because of us and God is with us? Or we are happy only of our selves not minding God and others. The knowledge of truth can make us happy, that is if God is within us. Truth for St. Augustine must be consistent. Existing and unending cannot be nullified independent that He exists on his own. We do not and we cannot take him away of our lives. It is our search of truth, the search of God that is the ultimate and real truth. We all came from truth that god made us for we have the reason and that is ultimate for us to be real happy. Life is reality of our being that we got from God. We came from the ultimate truth that we are badly connected to gain the knowledge of truth for us to be happy. Money, power, title, fame, and belongings are just mere material reasons for a man to become happy, but these things are also mere fake roots of happiness. For St. Augustine truth can alone make man become happy, God is our very reason to become happy, for he is the ultimate truth and no other things and events can surpass the happiness that God could give. Thus we have the great responsibility to look and to struggle of the real happiness what God wants for us. It is the unending task of God for us, to return and be happy forever in his midst. “My heart is restless, until it rests in you.” St. Augustine.

Have you been a student or a slave? Have you been a follower or a soldier? Have you ever experience one of them? If you do, then, I presume that you know already the difference between someone who teach and someone who command. Yet, in some instances, both seem to be the same.

Someone who teaches is different from someone who commands although both are an “act of giving instruction”. I started my paper with the question have you been a student or a slave and have you been a follower or a soldier. The student can give the meaning of someone who teaches and a slave can give the meaning of someone who commands. The same also goes to the follower and the soldier. Once you are a student you can able to disagree with your teacher. On the other hand once you became a soldier you cannot disagree with your commander, instead you must obey or else there will be a consequences.

In a war, in order to win, great commander must be a good teacher first. It’s the basic. The commander must learn first to be a student, be a teacher and later will be a commander. As a commander it is better to teach rather than to command always. Through your teaching others might be undoubtedly follow you because you have the reason why they must follow you and you should give them the possibilities what would happen if this thing will be followed by a soldier. As what I had read in the book of The Art of War, a commander is greatly appreciated not because of the battles that he won through fighting but rather through a battle in which he won without a need to fight. A commander does not always need to fight in order to win rather he must have the knowledge to win without fighting. A good teacher has always had the knowledge of something especially in his or her own field. The same also must go with th e commander; he or she must have the knowledge in his or her own field.

Someone who knows how to teach know how to foresee what will happen in the future and what will be the possibilities that might happen if something is done. The knowledge of someone who teaches came from his or her own meditation not from ignorance. On the other side, someone who commands, his or her decision came from being ignorant (pride, anger, strong emotion and etc.). People are more appreciated with their decision that came from the calmness of their mind and heart than people that are being impulsive, who thinks that their decision are always right, results only to misunderstanding of both side.

Someone, who teaches, is a teacher and someone, who commands, is a commander in a literal sense and sometimes this is really true in real life. Now, ask now yourself what do you prefer when you grow up, to become a teacher or a commander? It depends on you how you experienced a teacher, who teach, and a commander, who command. For St. Augustine he said “submit to those who teach rather than to those who command. St. Augustine was a teacher, someone who teach not someone who command. He could be biased, since he is a teacher, because he taught to people to submit their self to someone who teaches than to someone who commands. Yet what do you prefer to be a saint or hero? Saints are always good for all while a hero is good only for his or her own townsmen.

In life, it is man’s nature to seek for happiness. All of us want to be happy. Our worldly definition of happiness is to be with something or someone that is pleasurable, to have the things that can give us joy and contentment and to have what we want to have in life. True happiness is more than these things. It is more on “being with” (to be with) that someone that is “permanent” rather than “to have” that something or someone which is just “temporary.” It is something beyond the happiness that our body is seeking. We have our own happiness in life. Most of the time, our happiness in life is more on the happiness for the body rather than the happiness for the soul and spirit. Following what our body wants will sometimes make us fall into sin. What is your happiness in life? What is the happiness of your soul?


Temporal happiness is what this present world is offering us. This happiness can either be good or bad. It does not mean that if we have this kind of happiness, we are bad. It depends on us how we use these things or what are the means used to have these things or possessions. For example, gadgets are neither good nor bad. Gadgets are just man’s possession. These things become unhealthy for us if these gadgets are controlling us, not us controlling the gadgets. We cannot blame the gadgets for it is our lack of discipline that made us being controlled by the gadgets. There are times that we do bad things because they can give us happiness. Like for example masturbation, having pre-marital sex, putting down the people whom we hate, having high results in the exams because of cheating and many more. Not all temporal happiness is bad. We can also be temporarily happy through good things. Like for example, watching movies (action, comedy, etc.), having vacation, watching the concerts of our idols, being given gifts and rewards and many more. Temporal happiness just passes. It is not lasting.

To be truly happy, what we must seek in life is something that is permanent. Worldly things are not permanent. They are just temporal. Yes they can give us happiness but the happiness it gives is not lasting. As I said so, temporal happiness are not that bad. This happiness is just more on satisfying ourselves with worldly things. The happiness we must seek is what can satisfy our soul because it is permanent. What can give us permanent happiness is God. He alone can give us a permanent happiness in life. This can be through our unforgettable “God-moment” experience in life (events), our experience with inspiring friends and companions and of course having a healthy relationship with others most especially with our family. Having these situations, we can see God in other people and in our relationship with them. We experience God and with these experiences, we experience lasting happiness within us. This happiness is permanent. None of the worldly things can be as greater as having experience God through others. Only in God can we experience “fullness.”

All of us want to be happy. It’s alright to experience temporal happiness in life all as long that these things are good. Let us just remember that what is the most important thing in life is to experience God. We can experience Him through the different happenings in our life. We can also experience Him in others. God can only give us permanent happiness. In God alone we can experience the “fullness” of our self. He alone can satisfy our soul and spirit. Having experienced God in others, let us allow God to use us, to be the instrument of permanent happiness in others through Him.

The Bible tells us in Luke 12:15; “Watch Out! Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Did you ever feel contented with your life? Are you happy all the times? For sure, you will probably say, “No”. People are designed to be unsatisfied. It is unrealistic if they are always satisfied in life. They are always craving and desiring for things that they are unable to have or things they really want to have.  Happiness means different things to many different people. People seek happiness in a lot of different ways. For most, it is in the pursuit of riches. Others just want to have their special someone, and to someone else, good health is the very need to be happy. One of the things that can bring about happiness is contentment. Contentment and happiness are directly related. What really is contentment? Contentment is satisfaction. You will never be happy if you have the feeling of unsatisfaction in your life. If you are not satisfied, you are not happy. People who are greedy will never be happy, because they are never satisfied. Everybody wants to be happy and contented. If you are contented with what you have or who you are, you will be happy all the days of your life. Discontented people are always complaining about something or somebody, and the more they focus on how unhappy they are, the unhappy they will be. Discontentment or unsatisfaction in life is the main reason why people nowadays are experiencing difficulties and problems in life.  They are never satisfied of what they have or who they are in life. They are still looking and chasing for the things they want in life even though these are either not so important or not supposed for them to have. Sometimes, there are realities in life that we have to accept and understand. There are things in life that are impossible and hard for us to get and acquire.

The Bible tells us in Luke 12-15, that in life, you have to give thanks for what you have. You have to focus on your blessings and not on what you do not have. You have to appreciate little things in life. For waking up each morning, for food, for family and friends, for the experiences each day, for the joys and sorrows, you have to be thankful and grateful for these. To be truly content and joyous in your life, you need to be thankful and gratified for what you have now and not you would like to have. You have to feel full contentment in your life everyday. You have to stop chasing and looking after the things and possessions around you. For accumulation and possessions will never make you completely content and happy. For the real essence of happiness is being contented on what you have in life. Whatever possessions you have, stand for it and be contented. Because, when you are contented, you desire no more than what you have. If there is satisfaction in life, there is peace within you. When you are at peace, you will learn how to rightfully value your possessions and everything that you have in life.

God’s grace is sufficient in every situation. Instead of striving and trying to make it happen in your own strength, you have to offer and place your hope to God completely. There is always a right timing for everything, so you do not have to worry. You just have to wait. You have to put your trust and faith to the Lord. God will always be in our midst, for in him, nothing is impossible.